Muffled Voices
by RayeWilliams
Summary: A Guiding Ring means more than an upgrade in power and skill. To Erk, an upgrade means an entire wardrobe change. And he's never missed his hooded cloak more. OneShot Drabble: FE7, Blazing Sword.


This is...yeah, drabble, pretty much. It takes place after the Dragon's Gate incident so Nils and Ninian aren't in it. The merry band of adventurers are going...somewhere...um. Yeah. So they're on a mysterious quest. Use your imaginations. It doesn't play into the plot anyway.

This fic didn't really have any pairings, except for the all-too-obvious Pent/Louise. Also, the moment the tactician (and the narrator) shares with Erk could be interpreted as a fluffy pairing moment, if you so choose.

I don't own Fire Emblem. Just this story. Enjoy.

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Muffled Voices

I could feel Erk glaring at the back of my head, envy radiating off of his body. He was jealous of my cloak, he'd said, and of Canas and Nino's cloaks. When he became a sage, his entire uniform changed with him, and his own cloak no longer had a hood.

That meant the sounds reaching his ears could not be excusably muffled.

I could hear Lyn and Hector bickering ahead of us while Eliwood muttered half-heartedly for them to shut up. I could hear Serra having a hissy fit while Sain urged his horse ahead of the party to avoid her as she tried to beat him with her staff. I could hear Rebecca and Lowen chatting about cooking, Canas and Lucius having a calm debate about magic, and Heath and Farina comparing their flying steeds together, both yelling to be heard over the flapping of wings.

Hyperion screeched for no reason, which silenced everyone. I could feel Erk seething behind me. The loud chatter started up again when Serra shrieked Sain's name angrily.

"Please demote me, Lady Faye."

I knew he'd speak to me eventually. He'd been his usual silent self for the journey, but Lord Pent and Lady Louise had told me how he hated noise. His hopes that staying silent would encourage the other to do the same had failed miserably. It was really no surprise to any of us, I was sure. I wanted to keep my pace steady, to keep my eyes on the back of Guy and Matthew's head, but I couldn't. Call it curiosity, but I had to turn and see the face of doom glaring at me.

I turned my head slightly to look a certain Anima artist with my left eye. His own eyes were pleading, but equally bitter. The intense purple of his irises outmatched my own lavender gaze the same way a rolling waterfall gave a more shocking impression than a drizzle of rain.

"What?" I said quietly.

"Demote me. Give me something that will take the effects of the Guiding Ring off of me. I want my hood back."

I bit back a laugh, knowing it would frustrate him if it escaped my mouth. The flapping of Pegasus and Wyvern wings was growing louder as Farina and Heath descended, and everyone was shouting at each other to be heard. Erk's pace quickened until he was directly next to me, and he pulled down my hood.

"Milady, I implore you, do something," he said pitifully, all anger replaced by a pathetic longing for silence. It shocked me; the studious sage's usually sarcastic voice was bordering on the edge of a whine.

"I am sorry, Erk," I replied gently. I was being sincere. "Once the promotion has been given, there's no going back. Besides, you'd be killed in the battlefield if you were to turn back now, anyway."

"Then tell them to be quiet, won't you?"

"I can't."

"Eh?" I glanced back at him. He'd raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" I asked.

He opened his mouth to reply, but the loud beating of wings was now accompanied by large gusts of wind. The horses whinnied and Lyn's long ponytail swished around her. She put a hand to her brow and shook her head in exasperation. Erk's red cloak flapped around him, and my hair blew around so wildly that I had to clamp my eyes shut.

Once again, Heath and Farina's simple discussion about their beasts had become an argument, and Hyperion and Murphy were flying lower to the ground due to the negligence of their respective riders.

Serra was thrown to the ground in front of me, complaining feverishly about how a noblewoman was never to be mistreated in such a way. I heard Erk cough and felt him collapse next to me. Shortly after, the winds blowing my hair and cloak back caused me to lose my balance, and I fell next to him.

"Would you two get control of your steeds already!" Matthew called angrily. Nino obviously found the whole thing quite funny, as her high-pitched laughter was ringing annoyingly in my ears. Jaffar was sulking, standing stubbornly with his arms crossed, plainly trying to ignore the wild waves of black cloth fluttering around his stable body.

I peered up into the sky through squinted eyes, trying my best to ignore the brown hair whipping my face. Florina was staring down worriedly, Huey's wings beating at about the same volume as an owl's, a nice change, as Heath guided his Wyvern up and ahead. Farina landed near Rath and allowed Murphy to walk.

"Loud enough for ya, Erk?" Raven yelled from behind us. Bartre and Dart laughed brusquely. Erk scowled and picked himself up, trudging forward. I watched him go anxiously before a hand extended down to me. I accepted it and Priscilla pulled me to my feet, her expression grim as she watched Erk leave us behind.

"They need to stop picking on him," Priscilla said quietly, meeting my eyes.

"I know," I replied.

"He's going to leave if this keeps up."

I felt an unpleasant jerk in my gut at the thought of the sage leaving our group. I ignored it.

"I know," I said again.

"Faye, Priscilla, you two are falling behind," Lady Louise called cheerily from in front of us. Her hair was messed up from the wind, but she didn't seem to mind at all. Priscilla cast me a mournful look before urging her horse forward. I bowed my head sadly and followed them, my green cloak trailing reluctantly behind me.

(FE)

I awoke that night to an unfamiliar cracking noise. It wasn't that loud, but it was sharp and suspicious enough for me to be curious. I sat up in the tent and glanced at Lyn, who was still fast asleep next to me. After a brief moment of thought, I decided to check out the noise without her. There was no need for me to wake her up simply because I was too paranoid to let a continuous cracking sound go uninvestigated.

I left the tent while still clasping my cloak. Matthew was sitting outside of his tent, probably on a self-appointed guard duty. He waved sleepily at me, so I walked over to him.

"Hi, Faye," he said, failing to stifle a yawn. His brown hair was a total mess.

"Matthew. What are you doing awake?" I asked, trying to sound curious rather than suspicious.

"Just protecting everyone...I keep trying to tell Lyn that someone could sneak up on us and attack us in our sleep, but she won't listen." He yawned again.

"Like how you chose to duel Guy when he was asleep?" I whispered.

"Great minds think alike," he mumbled in response.

"I'm not that tired," I said. "Why don't you get some sleep? You're no use to us on the battlefield while you're falling over."

"I could say the same about you," Matthew grumbled, getting to his feet. "Wake me up if you get tired."

"Unlikely," I told him. I watched him return to his tent and waited for a few moments before making my way towards the source of the sound as quietly as I could.

I pushed my way into a thick cluster of trees. It amazed me how Lyn always seemed to find a conveniently placed forest for us to camp near. It amazed me further that Matthew, who was more suspicious and probably a lot more lithe than any of us, could claim to be on guard duty and not be roused by such an intrusive noise. A few minutes passed in which I slapped three mosquitoes, flicked a spider off of my shoulder, and startled a young doe. The snapping sounds only continued to grow louder, to echo, and was soon accompanied by a flickering light that seemed to go on and off with every click.

When I came to a tree I was sure hid the source of the noise from my line of vision, I waited. The snapping was so close...I could practically feel the night air disrupted by it. I peered around the side of the tree and the smell of smoke reached my nose. I knew immediately that the person sitting at the base was Erk. None of the others had such a small frame or such a unique hair colour. None of the others would be up so late simply to practice their skills, not even Guy or Lord Pent.

Erk snapped his fingers, holding his hand up directly in front of his eyes. A tiny, flickering flame appeared between his thumb and his forefinger. I watched as the wavering light illuminated his pale face. His expression serious, the fire sparkled in his violet eyes, and I watched it curl up and vanish spontaneously at the next snap.

Relieved at the explanation for the bizarre sounds, I turned to leave. Some strange instinct held me back, however, and I ended up continuing my silent watching. As of late, especially while watching Jaffar train Nino, I felt that everyone unrelated was best left to their own devices. Breaking my own rules made me feel like a stalker.

Erk sighed and leaned further back against the tree, pressed against it so firmly I swore it was about to meld with him. His hand dropped to his side, lying on the ground uselessly. His head pressed against the trunk, he stared into the sky, his eyes devoid of any of the knowledge he craved, of the comprehensive studies hidden deep within the books those same eyes cleaved through hungrily, day after day, while everyone else enjoyed themselves. His expression had changed from his usually grave one to one that actually scared me...and not in the way Lord Raymond's does.

Erk's expression had become one of a child, a child that had been forced to grow up far too quickly. His eyes were no longer narrowed, but his gaze was lowered; he sighed and crossed his arms, resting them on the knees he'd pulled up to his chest. He put his chin on his wrists, bowing his head, staring at the ground as though expecting some miracle to suddenly jump out of it and make him smile. It _would_take a miracle to ever accomplish such a thing. His purple hair fell around his face, curtaining it and drawing it into a complete realm of shadows. I felt myself ache on the insides watching him, a mix of my affection for him and my maternal instincts taking over.

Unsure of how to approach him, I simply strode over to him and sat next to him, perhaps two feet away. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them, my arms wrapped around my legs, the exact same position he was in, though I was staring at him and not at the backs of my eyelids. At the sound of my approach, Erk looked at me, moving his arms away from his body; flames swirled down his arms to wait for him to release them. At seeing me, his harsh eyes softened again and he dropped his arms, the fire vanishing entirely from both his hands and his eyes.

"What do you want, Lady Faye?" he asked quietly.

"It's _just _Faye," I reminded him exhaustedly.

"Milady." Ugh, he's so stubborn. Maybe the reason Serra annoyed him specifically was so he wouldn't muscle in on her territory.

"No," I repeated. "Faye. There's no "Lady" and there never really has been."

"And you think the others would be able to tell the difference?"

I ignored him. Truth be told, I hated that damn title with a burning passion. Erk knew it. Unfortunately for me, he also knew that I was concerned for him, and that my concern for my friends was far greater than my dislike for being wrongly referred to as a noblewoman.

"What is it?" he said again.

"Why are you awake at this hour?" I asked him.

"That is none of your business," he replied coldly. He was edging on defensive. "Why are you awake, Lady Faye?"

"Faye," I corrected him yet again, albeit weakly. "And I'm awake because I heard the snapping and went to check it out." I leaned over to look him in the eye, dark purple against lavender. "But then, that is none of your business."

"You could have left and gone back to your tent after you saw it was only me," he informed me in that frustratingly parental tone he liked to use on me. I said nothing. After a brief silence, his glare turned more curious. "Why didn't you?" he questioned. There it was. I fought a smirk; he couldn't scold me for doing exactly what he wanted. What he wanted was more simple and more complicated than his bare desires, his all-too-obvious façade. He needed someone to see him as something other than the uptight, diligent student from Etruria. I could do that.

"You seemed upset," I replied truthfully. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

He made a skeptical noise and cocked an eyebrow at me. I tilted my head at him.

"You disbelieve me," I said, more as a statement than a question.

"I'm the sage, nothing more."

"You know I could say the same thing about my duty," I said.

Erk nodded. "Yes, I know."

"Lord Pent and Lady Louise were right. They told me you spurn the people who care about you most."

"Eh?" Erk gave me a weird look, not quite cynical or curious, but a little shocked. "What makes you care so much? I'm a sage. I blast people with thunder. It's not like I have my own territory to look after."

"Technically, it's part of my job to make sure everyone in the party is alright," I reminded him. "However, you've always stood out to me, as both someone for me to look up to and someone for me to look after."

"Huh." It was less skeptical, but still suspicious. It confounded me how someone who spent so much time studying, someone who could catch a flaw in a battle plan thirty seconds after it becomes obvious, could be so oblivious to the people who cared. Erk turned away to lean against the tree. I sighed, the force of my breath pushing a strand of my brown hair out of place. Erk glanced at me as I put it back. I put a hand over my mouth to hide the yawn that decided to creep up on me.

"Are you tired?" he asked. I bit back a laugh. He hadn't slept in at least 36 hours, and he'd the audacity to ask _me _if _I _was tired?

"Not really," I replied.

"I watched you during supper," Erk said slowly. He stood and offered me a hand to help me up. "While I was reading. You didn't eat much. Are you hungry?"

"Must you do this with every woman you work with?" I asked him jestingly, accepting his hand and rising.

"Just the ones that don't drive me into a rage," he replied, giving me a rare smile. I grinned and we made our way back to the tents.

"Goodnight, Lady Faye," he said, moving away from me. I gripped the entrance flap of the tent, watching him.

"Erk?" I called quietly.

"Hm?" He looked back at me.

"Priscilla is quite talented when it comes to sewing. If you were to ask her, I'm sure she'd give your cloak a hood."

He regarded me silently for a minute before shaking his head.

"No, there is no need. I suppose I shall just learn to live with it."

I watched him go back to his tent and slip inside. As I turned to go back into my own tent, I felt a hand grip my shoulder. As I glanced at the person attached to it, I met Matthew's wide, brown eyes.

"You were going to sleep," he hissed quietly, his eyes insistent. "You were supposed to wake me up if you got tired. What if we were attacked while you slept?"

I rolled my eyes and turned my back to him. I raised the hood of my cloak as I entered my tent again, to hide myself from both the flipping of pages and his never-ending reprove. Erk may someday grow used to listening to these strange people babble. I, on the other hand, was extremely grateful that no Guiding Ring would ever remove my hood. Matthew's muffled voice ended up lulling me to sleep. He was telling off Erk, who had returned to the center of the campsite to study.

"The hypocrite," I whispered with a wry smile. Shortly after, I assume Matthew collapsed outside of my tent, cut short mid-sentence.

Sleep tight...

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Drabble, un. All of my fan fictions are corny if they involve even a sentence that contains fluff. FEH!

- Raye


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